Sound designer, composer & theatre-maker with an interest in installation, site-specific & immersive experiences. Part of Up Next Festival 2024 @unitytheatre
It has been great fun making lots of amazing set & props, with help from @altscaletheatre & @bridgeinnfarm, for a brand new children’s show at 3pm on 28th May @unitytheatre https://t.co/6DWzkcHQnC
A brand new children’s show is coming to Unity Theatre, Liverpool, this half term. Book your tickets for Pat the Painting Pig, 3pm, 28th May 🐷🎨 https://t.co/6DWzkcHQnC
Gutted at this and GAK shutting down earlier this year too. Got loads of stuff from both. Nothing beats being able to go into a store and actually try something - almost nowhere left to do this now
PMT permanently closing all stores
PMT Music (officially S&T Audio Ltd), once the UK’s 4th‑largest brick‑and‑mortar and online musical instrument retailer, went into administration on 11 June 2025 and ceased trading immediately, closing all 11 stores and its Liverpool warehouse
Why PMT failed
•Shrinking profit margins
•Rising rents, business rates, energy, and employer taxes squeezed profits
•Heavy discount-driven competition online further ate into margins
•Weak consumer demand
•Economic pressures dampened spending on instruments
•Online marketplaces became dominant, luring shoppers with lower prices
•Poor stock & price management
•Inconsistent stock control; oversold items caused long delays—and refunds or cancellations
•PMT attempted to keep up with dynamic online pricing, often matching competitors and eroding profits
•Failed turnaround efforts
•Despite efforts to restructure, refinance, or sell parts of the business, no buyer emerged, leading to administration
What happened next
•Administrators made 96 staff redundant, while 48 were kept on to handle the shutdown
•Gear4Music purchased PMT’s remaining stock, trademarks, website, and data for around £3.6 million ($3.3 million)
•Gear4Music confirmed that they will not be taking on PMT’s retail operations or its liabilities
Industry insights & community reactions
Reddit users traced the broader causes of PMT’s demise:
“People shopping online generally… choosing 2nd hand because the cost of living is so high… the number of young people picking up instruments is way down” .
“They’d have a tracker that would update both online and store pricing dynamically… if G4M, Amazon or someone else dropped their price, they’d match it and eat the loss”
Another user recalled poor inventory experience:
“On 3 separate occasions items showed in stock online … I had to wait … 5 months… I just cancelled the order and had the same guitar delivered from Thomann in under 48 hours”
Broader context
•PMT’s collapse follows a troubling trend of traditional music retailers shutting doors: GAK in the UK earlier this year, Bax Music in Europe, and Sam Ash in the US
•Services like in-store advice, instrument demos, and hands-on trial used to be PMT’s strength—but could not offset their financial challenges
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Big well done to @SonicMutiny for Earth is Lost… a deep dive into space & AI & using the theatre space so well & differently! @unitytheatre#UpNextFestival
I've been working on an agreement for the voice actors in my current project, regarding how their voices will be used for the installation and beyond. It feels important to write into the agreement that I will not synthesize their voices - not that I had planned to but because…
https://t.co/HZRM8eIVhm (and part 2) are a good place to start if you're thinking about this stuff. Although my takeaway from part 2 is that there's a whole world of legal chaos ahead. No surprise to anyone who follows developments in tech but...
It’s the final 24 hours of the Crowdfunder for Earth Is Lost! It has reached an amazing 82% so far 🎉 I’d love to hit the target so, if you’ve not donated, please check out the link and consider supporting. Thanks 🚀 https://t.co/0PCE30HaLq #Earth#space#sound#experience#AI
Delighted that the Earth Is Lost Crowdfunder campaign has nearly reached 70%! The campaign closes in 2 weeks so there's still time to help this project truly take off! 🚀 https://t.co/0PCE30HaLq #art#sounddesign#voiceacting#theatre#AI#space#unitytheatre
Join us live on 19 March 7pm GMT for the launch of FAE4 live on Twitch with Serpentine’s @VivLaNova, @eva33313 & Alasdair Milne.
https://t.co/KLj36yMCAv